


Helpless

by driveruniverse



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Armitage Hux Being An Asshole, Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Force Bond (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Pretending The Rise of Skywalker Doesn't Exist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28309335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driveruniverse/pseuds/driveruniverse
Summary: After Hux tries to assassinate him in his sleep, an injured and dying Kylo reaches out to Rey through the force bond for help.Roughly based off of the prompt: "The hero shows up at the villain's doorstep one night. They're shivering, bleeding, scared. Looking up at the villain, swaying slightly as they're close to passing out, they mumble '... didn't know where else to go...' then collapse into the villain's arms."
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 68





	Helpless

**Author's Note:**

> Before you read, I just want to inform you all that I am not the most knowledgable about in universe terminology, so if I got anything wrong, please let me know!
> 
> Anyway, this is just fluff, not my usual smut that I write, but I think it's so adorable and I hope you all like it!

If Hux’s blaster was aimed any higher, Kylo would definitely be dead. But thanks to his quick reflexes and ability to sense when things are about to go amiss, Kylo dodged Hux’s shot  _ just  _ in time… But he wasn’t fast enough to miss it entirely. It hit him right below his left rib cage, reopening the blaster wound left there by Chewbacca back on Starkiller Base. 

It was a moment of weakness. He told himself he would never be caught off guard again, and those incapable stormtroopers were supposed to be guarding the doors to his quarters. He knew he should have left that task for his knights. It happened almost exactly like that one night. That night where everything turned upside down. When his uncle betrayed him, scared of a young boy who was having a nightmare. The green light shining over him, the hum of Luke’s lightsaber… it still haunted him to this day. And he told himself- gods, he  _ told _ himself- it would never happen again. And yet it did.

He should have seen it coming. Ever since the throne room two months ago, ever since he killed Snoke- their supreme leader. He knew he just made himself a target. And Hux would be the one to exact revenge. So he didn’t know why he wasn’t well prepared when Hux somehow got past the guards, snuck into his quarters without alerting him, and aimed at Kylo’s back. It was the click of the safety that woke him up. By the time the blaster shot was fired, Kylo was already on the move, calling his lightsaber toward him. But Hux was gone. Just as fast and stealthily as he arrived. And he left Kylo with a gushing blaster wound, bleeding out all over his floor. 

The pain coursed through him immediately, causing him to fall to his knees, curled over trying to catch his breath.

“Guards!” he croaked out. 

No response.

“Guards!” he tried again, every movement sending blinding pain through his side, into his lungs.

No response.

Hux must have knocked them out. Or worse. They could be in on the whole thing.

He had to get out. It would no longer be safe if the stormtroopers were on Hux’s side, and Kylo wasn’t willing to take any chances. Plus, he would bleed out and die if he stayed here. He needed help, but how can you find help when you’re surrounded by people who couldn’t care less if you died?

Desperation is what led him to make his next decision. True, cowardly desperation. He didn’t even know if it would work, let alone if the recipient would help. She, too, would probably love to sit back and watch him die a slow and painful death. But he had to try, dammit. He had to. Snoke may have tried to convince them that it was all his doing. That bond that they had. That it was never real. But he was proved wrong when that fantastical bond opened once again on Crait, and he saw her one last time boarding his father’s damned ship. She looked unforgiving and had closed the door on him without a word. But she hesitated. And that hesitation was the one thing that Kylo had been holding on to. The one thing that gave him hope that she hadn’t blocked him out yet. She was still conflicted. 

So he tugged on that bond. That bond that gave him  _ her _ . The scavenger from Jakku who was so much more than she believed. That bond that gave him companionship and comfort when he needed it the most; when he didn’t want to admit that he needed it. He tugged and tugged and tugged, but there was no response.

“C’mon, Rey.” he grunted, clutching his side to try to slow the bleeding. “ _ Please _ , Rey. Don’t shut me out now.” This had to work. It  _ had _ to, or else he’d die. 

Betrayed by his own people and now begging for help from his supposed enemy; how pathetic is that? Even still, he relentlessly tugged on that bond some more, full on pulling on it with all of his strength at this point. 

“ _ Rey! _ ” he grunted out again.

Then, a moment of calm… quiet. And he could sense her. Her force signature. So light and new, like a breath of fresh air. He was panting for breath now, his hand coated in the warm wetness of his own blood. But she was there. Back facing toward him, not five feet away.

“What do you want?” her voice echoed through the bond, reverberating throughout his whole body. A sense of relief flooded him.

Still kneeling, now in an ever growing puddle of his blood on the ground, hand putting relentlessly painful pressure onto his wound, he gasped for air. “Rey.” he said weakly.

The jedi quickly turned around, shimmering brown eyes focused on his perspiring face, then roaming down to gawk at his wound. “What happened to you?”

Was that  _ concern _ he heard in her voice? Saw in her eyes?

A bitter laugh that sent a stabbing pain through him. “Hux,” he ground out. “Hux betrayed me. Shot me in my sleep.”

He closed his eyes, trying to pull his attention away from the pain. Rey’s hurried footsteps were the only sound next his blood dripping onto the floor. Finding the strength to look up, he met her worried gaze, now mere inches from his face.

“How bad?” she asked hurriedly.

“Bad.” was the only response he could muster.

A moment of silence as he watched the wave of different expressions flood her face. She was at war with herself, he could feel it. Should she risk saving the life of her enemy only to have him possibly betray her? Or should she let him die and then that’ll be one less threat to worry about?

“I understand…” Kylo said faintly, taking in a staggering deep breath only to wince at the pain it caused him. “I understand if you don’t want to help me. But Rey… I didn’t know who else to go to.”

She looked into his eyes once more, that bond turning electric between them. Like the Force itself was pulling them closer and closer together. “Come to me.” she said. “But  _ swear to me _ that you won’t do anything stupid.”

A laugh that was more like an exhale of air. “Trust me, I wouldn’t be able to even if I wanted.”

Rey pinned him with an assessing glare, no doubt feeling him out through the Force to try to tell if he was lying. “I’ll send you my coordinates.” was her only response. He must have passed her test, then.

☪

Her location was on Batuu in the Outer Rim; that must be where the Resistance has been hiding out- which would be valuable information to the laserbrains aboard this gods damned ship. But Rey was willing to risk the life of herself and the others to help him. To save his life. He wouldn’t betray her, especially now that he learned what betrayal felt like… twice.

It would seem that the hard part of stealing a TIE fighter would be, in fact, the act of stealing it while going unnoticed. But no, that wasn’t the hard part. Using the Force to guide attention away from himself, Kylo found stealing the ship quite easy. It would have been easier if he wasn’t losing a pint of blood per five minutes, but that would soon be dealt with. Hopefully. In the meantime, he found some bandages in a supply closet to sloppily and hurriedly wrap around his waist, but they were quickly getting soaked through. He needed to be stitched up. Badly.

Typing Rey’s coordinates into the navigation system, Kylo thanked whatever gods were watching over him that she wasn’t too far away; TIE fighters weren’t meant to travel long distances and they lacked a hyperdrive. They were just mainly for… well,  _ fighting _ . If he could contain his bleeding, he could get to Rey  _ just _ in time without dying first. If he lost consciousness… well there wasn’t much he could do if it came to that.

And it did. Come to that, that is. He awoke to an incessant beeping noise signalling that he was entering Batuu’s atmosphere at full speed, but there was no easy way to land a TIE fighter. It was either going to be a controlled crash landing or he’d have to eject his seat and hope that his parachute was in working order. Kylo chose the latter.

Once he was at a safe-ish distance to the ground, he clicked the self eject button and pulled the lever on the side of his seat to release the parachute. His stomach dropped as he floated to the ground, nearly hitting a building on his way down. Unbuckling himself and stumbling out of the seat, he attempted to reach Rey through the bond again. She answered faster than ever.

“Ben,” he winced at the sound of his true name on her lips. “You look near death. Where are you?”

Kylo coughed into his hand, only to pull it away and find it coated in blood, the metallic taste staining his mouth. “Black Spire.” he rasped.

“That’s not too far from me. Stay where you are, I’ll come find you. Keep pressure on that wound.”

“Hurry.” was his only desperate reply.

  
  


☪

Rey showed up not five minutes later. Kylo was so out of it, he could have kissed her. She rushed over to him, now leaned up against a stone building.

Rey lifted up his shirt to examine the now sweat and blood soaked bandage wrapped around him. “Kriff, Ben. We need to get you back to my hut.” She scanned the rest of his body for any more injuries and then looked back into his eyes. She placed the back of her palm on his forehead feeling for a temperature and then slid her hand down the side of his face to cup his cheek. “You feel warm. Can you walk?”

He leaned slightly into her comforting touch before he realized what he was doing, but she didn’t budge. “I can try.” he answered.

She helped him up and then slid an arm under his shoulder so he could use her as a crutch. Being that he was nearly two heads taller than her, he tried not to lean too much on her, but there were a couple times where he stumbled and was glad to have her there to catch him. Her body felt foreign and strange pressed next to his, like they crossed some sort of boundary being this close to one another. In fact, he didn’t think they had been this close since he carried her in his arms out of Takodana. He remembered thinking how beautiful she had been cradled in his arms, but he didn’t let those thoughts go too far. She was his enemy, after all.

They finally made it to Rey’s tiny hut and she hurriedly snuck him in, probably scared that other resistance members would see him. The inside was quite…  _ homey _ . Consisting of a cot, a small table to eat on, a conservator, some counters, and a door that no doubt led to a fresher.

Kylo turned around to find Rey closing the front door behind her. “Cozy.” he said.

She looked at him, keeping her distance, becoming all too aware that she was in a confined space with her sworn enemy. He didn’t blame her for being cautious. “Not everyone has a massive dreadnought to call home. This is the best I could get.” she deadpanned. “Now are you gonna let me patch you up or what?”

The sides of his vision had already started to darken and his head felt light. He didn’t have much time before things got very,  _ very _ bad. He stumbled a bit and had to catch himself by putting a hand against the wall. Rey started toward him, hands out in case he fell over. 

“Ben?” she nearly whispered.

“I’m fine.” he grunted out. “Just a little…” he sucked in a staggering breath. “Light headed.” he finished.

And then collapsed onto the small cot.

  
  


☪

“Ben?” he felt small, calloused hands gripping both of his shoulders. His  _ bare _ shoulders.. “Ben?” that light, beautiful voice said again. “Are you alive?”

He groaned in response. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Where’s my shirt?” he rasped, opening his crusted eyes to find Rey sitting next to him on the cot.

“Oh, don’t be such a prude.” Kylo was taken back by her cool demeanor and joking response. He quirked an eye at her as if to ask  _ where is the old Rey and what did you do with her? _ The corners of her lips lifted slightly, just like they did in that elevator two months ago. Kylo’s heart stuttered against his will at the sight of it. “I had to take it off to dress your wound. Some disinfectant, sloppy stitches, and a fresh bandage and you’re good as new.”

He craned his head forward to look down his body at his now newly bandaged wound, but the movement sent pain coursing through his body. He winced and slowly laid back down. “Thank you.” he said, perhaps for the first time in years.

Rey looked just as shocked as he felt to hear those words come out of his mouth. “You’re welcome.”

They sat in silence, both seemingly trying to find words to fill the space between them. Kylo cleared his throat and struggled to sit up, but he did eventually, causing Rey to cautiously scoot back. He understood why she was still suspicious of him. 

“Rey,” he started. “I just wanted to say… sorry.” she raised her eyebrows as her shoulders seemed to relax a bit. “Truly. For what I said in the throne room and for everything before and after that.”

She looked skeptically at him. “What changed?” she asked. “Why say this now? After all this time? After all the death and destruction?”

He saw the pain flash in her eyes at the memory of Luke, Han- his father. He felt that same pain, maybe more for the latter than the former. He took a deep breath, searching for the truth that he never wanted to admit. “Snoke is dead now. I no longer hear his voice in my head telling me what to do, feeding me lies upon lies.”

She leaned closer to him now. “So this whole time… it was Snoke? You were what? His puppet?”

He nodded gravely. “Yes. He was like a parasite in my mind ever since I was a child. He haunted me in my dreams and while I was awake. He brainwashed me. I couldn’t escape him.”

“And you just all of a sudden had a change in heart?”

“No, I think it has been happening for a while now.” he looked away from her. “Ever since that night when you and I touched hands. Maybe before that, I don’t know. But it was definitely that night that changed the tide.” he looked back up at her to find her closer than she was before, hand mere inches away from his own.

“How do I know that I can believe you?” she asked, voice just below a whisper.

His heart thundered in his chest being so exposed and this close to her. “You don’t.” he managed to say. “But, somehow, you already know that you can.” he hesitated before he lightly brushed Rey’s pinky with his own, the simple touch almost electrifying. “Close your eyes and feel it in the Force. Trust that it will lead to the truth.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, slowly inhaling and exhaling. As she did so, he studied her face, the sharp curve of her jaw, her wide mouth, and dimples. Her hair was just like it was the last time he saw her. She opened her chocolate brown eyes, now shimmering with unshed tears.

“Ben?” she whispered in disbelief.

Ben. His birth name. The name his parents gave him. No, he was no longer Kylo Ren, leader of the Knights of Ren. He had stopped being Kylo Ren the moment he tugged on that bond for Rey to save him. He was Ben Solo now. Son of Leia Organa and Han Solo. He had the blood of a scoundrel and princess in his veins, and he would no longer be controlled.

He could feel his smile spread from ear to ear as he took Rey’s hands in his own. “Yes.” he breathed.

She huffed a laugh and tightened her grip in his hands. “Oh my gods, Ben I am so sorry.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “What are you sorry for?”

“For leaving you in that throne room. For closing the door on you and shutting you out. I’m sorry you were struggling and was so blind that I didn’t see it.”

He leaned in closer to her and cautiously lifted his hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I was the one who was an ass. I deserved everything that came to me.”

A tear slid down her cheek and she shook her head. “No, you didn’t. Like you said, Snoke was brainwashing you since you were a defenseless child. You didn’t deserve any of it.”

So long. He had waited so long to hear those words. He never thought he could believe them. For so long he had kept everything inside. Never opened up to anyone. It was like an a hundred pound weight being lifted off his chest. He hadn’t felt the comforting touch of anyone since he was a child, and in his weakest moments, lying in bed at night, he craved that kind of touch the most. So he savored every bit of warmth from Rey’s hands. Her comforting, reassuring touch. 

“You’re the one who helped me, you know.” he said. “You made me want to  _ change _ . To rebel against Snoke. This connection that we have… whatever it is, it’s what has been getting me through all of it.”

She smiled a bit wider, exposing her deep dimples. “Really?”

He brushed his thumb across one of her knuckles. “Yes. And that moment in the elevator, right before the throne room, when you told me about my future… that was the first time I actually felt hope. Hope that I would escape from Snoke’s grasp. That you would help me. And that’s exactly what you did.”

She only looked at him, saying nothing and still piecing all the information together. After a tortuous amount of silence, Ben finally said, “If you didn’t feel the same way, please tell me so I can stop making a fool out of myself.”

She laughed. Actually laughed. And Ben unknowingly smiled again. “I never wanted to admit it.” she said, scooting closer to him so that they basically shared the same breath. “But looking back, I did feel the same way. I felt  _ connected _ to you in a way I could never explain. And I didn’t even want to try to explain it. But now… now I’m not ashamed of it. I want to learn more about it; what it is and how it works. And I want you to be there with me. Every step of the way.”

Ben couldn’t comprehend the words coming out of her mouth. He never thought he would have this sort of connection with anyone, but now he does and it’s…  _ marvelous _ . “I don’t know how the others would feel about that.”

“It’ll be hard to persuade them, but Ben… I trust you. And once they see that, I think it’ll be easier to win them over.” she lifted her hand to cradle his cheek just like she did when she found him leaning against that building, bleeding and near death. The pad of her thumb brushed against his cheek bone and he closed his eyes, savoring the touch. “Ben,” she whispered, face mere centimeters away from his. “I want you to join me.”

He chuckled along with her, her breath caressing his mouth. “That’s my line.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, but it was too good to pass up.”

And then she closed the distance between them and brushed her lips against his in a soft kiss. It was the last thing he thought she would do, but he didn’t protest one bit. He accepted the kiss and deepened it, wrapping an arm around her waist to bring her closer to him. The act caused him to wince in pain, and Rey broke the kiss.

“You should rest.” she told him, leaning her forehead against his. “We’ll deal with the others in the morning.”

He nodded against her. And laid back down on the cot. Rey made to get up, but he grabbed hold of her wrist. “Will you stay with me?”

She looked down at him and smiled. “Of course.” she whispered.

  
Rey laid next to him, back flush against his chest, his knees tucked into hers. As Ben wrapped his arms around her and held her close, his head felt clear for the first time in two decades, and he finally felt  _ free _ .

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget leave a kudos and/or comment, I love to hear your guy's opinions! Also, follow my [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/adamdriveruniverse/) for more Reylo content and updates on any other fanfics I write.


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